Bourj FC held to a draw by Al Ahly Nabatieh

Bourj FC - Al Ahly Nabatieh 1-1 (1-1)

Hilal El Helwe 33' penalty - Haidar Abou Zeid 13'

Friday, 22 September 2023, 4 pm local time (1 pm UTC), Safa Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon, 5th round of the Lebanese Premier League

 Bourj FC starting line-up. Photo source: Lebanese FA Facebook page

Al Ahly Nabatieh starting line-up. Photo source: Lebanese FA Facebook page

Bourj FC should have normally won this game, rather easily, but they were the victims of their own trust that everything will turn up right, no matter what. So, they kept on rotating players, instead of focusing on the best possible starting line-up, they kept on playing attacking in the same manner, considering that the opponents will make some mistakes and they will eventually score, and so on. 

On the other hand, newly-promoted and very ambitious Al Ahly Nabatieh played the best they could, trying everything to surprise the opponent and to get at least one point out of a game which did not promise much.

Bourj could have taken the lead early, when Hilal El Helwe stroke the crossbar with an instinctive shot from inside the box, the ball coming from a careless defender (4'). However, the goal came for Al Ahly Nabatieh, in one of their counterattacks, led by Hassan Kadi on the right side, who crossed into the box, and Haidar Abou Zeid managed to place the ball near the post from short range: 0-1 (13').

This surprising goal gave Bourj FC the necessary impetus to increase the intensity of their attacks. Eventually, Bilal Sabbagh found a filtering pass to Tidiane Camara in the box, whose shot went wide, but at the same time he collided with goalkeeper Afif Zreik. The referee awarded a long-disputed penalty, eventually converted by Hilal El Helwe: 1-1 (33').

Afif Zreik chose the wrong side and Hilal El Helwe equalized from penalty. Photo source: Lebanese FA Facebook page

After the goal, Bourj FC relaxed a little bit and the game became more balanced once again, right up to the break.

In the second half, Bourj FC dominated clearly, and their pressure became higher and higher, but the opponents organised themselves well defensively and also had a lot of luck. Bourj FC missed plenty of chances, but by far the biggest of them all was in the 71st minute, when Tidiane Camara hit the post with a shot from inside the box, the ball came back to Houssem Louati, who had an empty net in front of him but preferred to pass to Hassan Chaito "Moni", near him, but Moni's shot hit the same post, then the ball deflected into the hands of goalkeeper Afif Zreik, who was lying on the ground after attempting to save the previous shots!

In the final minutes, there were many shots and especially headers towards the goal, but Afif Zreik (former Bourj goalkeeper) had no problems in saving everything. Bourj FC lost two important points in their fight to get into the first six, while Al Ahly Nabatieh got an important point in their fight to avoid relegation.

Bourj FC: Ali Hallal - Mohamad El Dor, Khodor Hallak, Mohamad Zein Tahan (Shadi Skaf 52') - Prosper Donkor (Mohamad El Faour 81'), Ali Chaito (Hassan Chaito "Moni" 62') - Houssem Louati, Bilal Sabbagh (Mohamad Sibaii "Wartan" 62'), Tidiane Camara - Hilal El Helwe (Abou Bakr Al Mel "Bako" 81'). Manager: Hussein Tahan.

Al Ahly Nabatieh: Afif Zreik - Hussein Fahes, Godfred Yeboah, Hussein Reda (Raed Sabbah 72'), Mohamad Nehme, Mohamad Ghamlouch (Opaleye Brown 77'), Hassan Kadi (Hussein Zeinedine 81'), Ifeanyi Eze, Khaled El Sati (Shadi Jouny 46'), Haidar Abou Zeid, B. Badji (Imar Ghaddar 81'). Manager: Hussein Hassoun.

Referee: Ahmad Alaeddine.

In the next round, Bourj will face Hikma / Sagesse theoretically at home but practically away, at Fouad Chehab Stadium in Jounieh, while Al Ahly Nabatieh will play a very important local derby against bottom-placed Shabab Al-Ghazieh.

Full results, table and fixtures:

 

Round 5 (22-24 September 2023)

 

AC Tripoli – Racing 2-2

Bourj – Al Ahly Nabatieh 1-1

Hikma / Sagesse – Tadamon Sour 1-0

Ansar – Safa 2-2

Shabab Al-Ghazieh – Nejmeh 0-4

Shabab Sahel – Al Ahed 0-5

 

Table

 

1	Nejmeh	5	5	0	0	15-2	15	Qualified for the play-off
2	Al Ahed	5	4	0	1	17-4	12	Qualified for the play-off
3	Ansar	5	2	3	0	9-7	9	Qualified for the play-off
4	Bourj	5	2	2	1	8-5	8	Qualified for the play-off
5	Racing	5	2	2	1	9-11	8	Qualified for the play-off
6	Safa	5	1	3	1	7-8	6	Qualified for the play-off
7	Shabab Sahel	5	1	3	1	5-8	6	Qualified for the play-out
8	Tadamon Sour	5	1	1	3	4-7	4	Qualified for the play-out
9	Al Ahly Nabatieh	5	0	4	1	5-9	4	Qualified for the play-out
10	AC Tripoli	5	0	3	2	4-6	3	Qualified for the play-out
11	Hikma / Sagesse	5	1	0	4	5-10	3	Qualified for the play-out
12	Shabab Al-Ghazieh	5	0	1	4	3-14	1	Qualified for the play-out

 

If two or more teams have the same number of points, the results of head-to-head matches between them are the main ranking criteria.

 

Round 6 (28 September – 1 October 2023)

 

Racing – Nejmeh

Ansar – Al Ahed

Shabab Sahel – Tadamon Sour

Bourj – Hikma / Sagesse

AC Tripoli – Safa

Shabab Al-Ghazieh – Al Ahly Nabatieh